Animal Control officials say they're seeing a growing number of infectious foxes, so people and their pets need to stay away.
Animal Control officials in Lowndes County say a growing number of wild foxes are becoming infected with canine distemper, wandering out of their environment and dangerously close to humans and pets.
"There have been an unusually high amount of calls reporting there are foxes with behavior similar to rabies,” says Lowndes county spokesperson Paige Dukes.
"They act very disoriented. Most of them have been extremely underweight, they just act very lethargic, they just stagger around. The calls we've had have been people petting them. That's a bad idea. Because rabies is also prevalent in wild animals, so it’s never a good idea to mess with a wild carnivore,” explains Bill Schultz from Animal Control.
Animal control experts say this problem is not just limited to the countryside, it can be found in residential neighborhoods, like this one, all over Lowndes County.
"Its been all over the county, its been at varied locations,” Schultz adds.
Experts also expect the number of infected foxes to rise for a short time, then hopefully the disease will die off with its victims.
But in the mean time, people in Lowndes County are being asked to be extra careful if and when they see a wild fox.
You can protect your pet from getting the canine distemper disease by simply making sure it is up to date on all of its shots.
